Visit by Laurent Fabius, Bernard Cazeneuve, Pascal Canfin and Hélène Conway-Mouret to Germany to mark the 50th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty (22 January 2013)

Laurent Fabius, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bernard Cazeneuve, Minister Delegate for European Affairs, Pascal Canfin, Minister Delegate for Development, and Hélène Conway-Mouret, Minister Delegate for French Nationals Abroad, visited Berlin on 22 January 2013 to take part in the celebrations organized to mark the 50th anniversary of the signature of the Elysée Treaty.

The 40th anniversary of this founding treaty of Franco-German reconciliation and friendship, signed in Paris on 22 January 1963 by General de Gaulle and Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, was celebrated in Versailles in 2003.

The ministers had meetings with their respective German counterparts about the future of the exceptional cooperation that has developed between our two countries on the basis of the Elysée Treaty. They also discussed the major international news issues, particularly the situation in Mali and the crisis in Syria, as well as the European agenda.

The Foreign and Defence Ministers also took part in a meeting of the Franco-German Defence and Security Council, an institution created on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Elysée Treaty and whose work focused essentially on the situation in Mali and the future of the Common Security and Defence Policy.

The ministers then took part in a plenary meeting of the Franco-German Council of Ministers, to be jointly chaired by President François Hollande and Chancellor Angela Merkel. At the meeting a declaration was adopted underlining, 50 years after the signature of the Elysée Treaty, the Franco-German partnership’s relevance, dynamism and contribution to the European enterprise and defining the major themes of our joint action over the coming years.

The ministers then attended a plenary session of the French and German Parliaments in the Bundestag, as well as a concert at the Berliner Philharmonie in the presence of the German President. Mme Conway-Mouret also represented France at the celebrations organized in Bavaria on 23 January, in the presence of the Minister-President, Horst Seehofer.